Film

The Stupids

The Stupids is a gloriously dumb family comedy where Tom Arnold leads a household of absolute nincompoops on a misguided adventure involving garbage theft and accidental espionage. It's deliberately, aggressively silly—absurdist humour for kids who think fart jokes are philosophy. Broad, physical, unapologetically stupid in every frame. Pure chaos, no plot.

TMDb rating2.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy broad, deadpan slapstick about gormless characters who never notice how absurd they are, the kind of mild family comedy that trusts a silly premise and plays it straight.

Skip it if you want sharp jokes or a story that builds; the humour here is repetitive, and the characters' obliviousness wears thin over ninety-odd minutes.

What it asks of you: Mostly a light, brisk sitting: a loose run of misunderstandings, little need for close attention, and a cheerful tone that holds even as the plot tangles.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective1994

Jim Carrey at peak rubber-faced lunacy, solving crimes through sheer manic energy and animal ventriloquism. If you loved Arnold's commitment to stupidity, Carrey takes that frequency and amplifies it to eleven.

But The humour is almost entirely physical and scatological. If you're not onboard with fart jokes and talking butts within the first five minutes, it's not going to convert you.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective poster

The Addams Family1991

Deadpan weirdness played completely straight by an all-star cast. That balance—treating the absurd as mundane—is comedy alchemy. Barry Sonnenfeld directs with the same kind of architectural precision underneath the mayhem.

But It's far more stylish and witty than The Stupids. If you want pure dumbness without design or craft, this might feel overcooked.

The Addams Family poster

Matilda1996

Danny DeVito directs and stars in a film about a genuinely clever kid in a world run by idiots. It's got that same anarchic family energy but actually cares about its characters. Warrington Gillespie's production design is gorgeous too.

But It's sincere about childhood resilience. The Stupids has no heart. If you want heartwarming, you're looking elsewhere.

Matilda poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Stupids

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Uncle Buck1989

Both are ensemble family comedies where an unconventional central figure disrupts suburban order, but where The Stupids is anarchic absurdism, Uncle Buck is anarchic love.

John Candy as chaos incarnate in a family setting—but here the stupid person is lovably competent underneath. It's the emotional inverse of The Stupids: same genre engine, completely different fuel. Pitch-perfect.

But It actually has heart and character arcs. If you wanted pure meaningless chaos, this will feel like it's trying too hard to matter.

Uncle Buck poster
More like this (8)

Home Alone1990

A kid outsmarting bumbling adults through elaborate slapstick and traps. John Hughes understands that family comedies can be genuinely funny. The physical comedy is inventive rather than just loud.

But It's plotting-adjacent. The Stupids doesn't care about coherence or stakes. This one does both, which means less freedom.

Home Alone poster

Who Framed Roger Rabbit1988

Absolute controlled chaos. Robert Zemeckis blends live-action and animation with such precision that the mayhem feels earned rather than random. Bob Hoskins commits fully to the lunacy around him.

But It's technically brilliant in ways that require paying attention. The Stupids is anti-craft. Sitting through virtuosity when you want pure noise might feel exhausting.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit poster

Problem Child1990

John Ritter as a befuddled adoptive parent trying to manage a pint-sized chaos agent. It's got that same understanding that family stupidity is the whole joke. Genuinely unhinged fun.

But It hasn't aged as well as you'd hope. The pacing sags in places where The Stupids just barrels forward.

Problem Child poster

The Flintstones1994

Stone Age people doing anachronistic family stuff played by actual stars. It's live-action cartoon logic—no pretence at realism, just gags stacked on gags. Rick Moranis and Rosie O'Donnell lean into it completely.

But It's more interested in the property than in actual comedy. A lot of it is just pointing at how Flintstones-y it is rather than making jokes.

The Flintstones poster

Beethoven1992

Charles Grodin as a harried family man drowning in dog chaos. If you enjoy watching capable adults defeated by their own stupidity and circumstance, this scratches that itch while being somehow more grounded.

But It's got genuine sentiment and lessons. The Stupids refuses to learn anything. If you hate sincerity, this will annoy you.

Beethoven poster

The Brady Bunch Movie1995

Encelia Shue and Shelley Long playing Brady characters as deadpan time-travelers in the 90s. It understands how to land jokes about people being fundamentally out of step with the world around them.

But It's a parody of something most younger viewers never watched. The references feel obscure now. It needs nostalgia to work.

The Brady Bunch Movie poster

Rubber2010

Both films are built on the principle that stupidity itself is the entire point—no deeper message, no hidden depth. Rubber is that idea taken to philosophical extremes.

A sentient tire rolls through a small town murdering people for no reason. It's aggressively stupid on purpose, refuses to explain itself, and commits to the bit harder than anything has a right to. French, surreal, genuinely hilarious in its refusal to care.

But It's arthouse stupid, not family stupid. The tone is willfully alienating and sometimes quite dark. If you want accessibility, this scorns you.

Rubber poster

The Muppets Take Manhattan1984

Both treat a fundamentally stupid premise (puppets can produce Broadway! A family of idiots exists!) with complete seriousness and elaborate staging, finding comedy in the gap between effort and outcome.

Puppet chaos with human collaborators. It's silly, plotless in the best way, and full of absurdist tangents. The Muppets operate on pure logic from their own universe, which is basically The Stupids' principle played by felt.

But It's built for a different audience and a different era. The pacing is leisurely. Modern family comedies are faster and louder.

The Muppets Take Manhattan poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

Dirty Sanchez, Airheads, George of the Jungle